Need advice on vintage quilt....
 

My mother cut out an entire bow tie quilt, and gave me the box with all the pieces to make for my oldest son. By the time she gave it to me, he was in a queen size bed, and the quilt was supposed to be twin. So I put off working on it. Now I'm being blessed with two grand babies this year. One boy and one girl. So I've decided to make moms quilt into baby quilts. I will get 3 baby quilts out of what she gave me. I have one problem, though. She had white backing fabric in the box for the original quilt, and neither of the girls, nor I like the idea of a white backing. I would love to keep them in the era, and find fabric for the backing and the binding that are similar. I need suggestions, since these will be keepsakes for the babies. Do any of you have resources for vintage fabrics, 60's-80's. I would love to finish them with the appropriate fabric. Thanks in advance for any recommendations. :o

I love vintage quilts to and am always trying to reproduce quilts from the 1920s era. Try going on to Ebay and look up Effie's. she has tons of old fabrics. I don't know if she will have any really, large pieces, but it wouldn't hurt to send her a message and tell her what you are looking for. I've bought a lot of fabrics from her over the years and she is always very honest and reasonable with her prices.

Also, if you are looking for 60-80s prints then try the more contemporary/modern quilting stores. They have a lot of those mid-century modern prints, because they're so "in" right now. Honey Be Good and Cloud Nine come to mind. They both have websites.

Good luck!
~ Cindy

No Suggestions, but oh my it's depressing to hear "vintage" and "60s-80s" in the same sentence!!!!!!!

If you don't want white backing, why not dye the backing fabric or tea dye it?

I totally AGREE!!!

So true, so very true.

LOL, I agree! If 60s - 80's is vintage, I'm an antique!

I think if you look around you'll find something suitable. I got 300 yards of fabric from my Sis that she bought in the 70's, and it's pretty much very small floral patterns. I've been told that is getting popular again.

It is funny though, because I also got some UFO quilts from my Mom that she was working on during that time frame, and they also came with white backing. I know my mom used white or muslin for the quilts she made. I don't think she ever considered using a print. Don't know if that was common, or just my Mom.

Thank you so much for the suggestion. I will look up Effies and will also look at the quilt shop. I do appreciate having the names of lines, because I'm pretty new to the quilting world and so that does help a lot!

Sorry ladies. I was born in the 60's, so I guess I'm vintage too. :p ;)

Might have been common back then, IDK? I do know that both girls would prefer something different than the white. I thought about using it for sashing on a couple of them, since they will be smaller.

The one that I have started is really cute so far. I've got only 6 blocks done, because mom cut the pieces by hand, so some of the bocks end up wonky and I have to pick out the seams and fix them. But I'm getting there. I'm determined to finish it before baby Zoe shows up. LOL I know that Y seams are not my favorite, and thank goodness for Utube, or I would still be struggling with those.

are the bow ties prints? If so I'd use a solid or something that reads like a solid. Lots of teal, rust, black, cobalt blue, avacado or moss green, orange as I remember the 60's!

Back in "those" days, one never thought to use regular fabric on the back..wide cream or white muslin was common as well as solid 45" goods. The use of those fabrics was more economical. Specific quilting fabric lines started emerging at that time..Quilting was becoming a lost art in the late 60's and early 70's. A resurgence happened with the American Bicentennial....and we keep moving forward...

Ain't that the truth!

Here's what I have so far. As you can see, its even got a vegetable print in it. Mom had a massive stroke, but she's still with us. When we take the baby to see her, we want to hand her to her wrapped in this quilt. My DIL and I are kind of sentimental about this quilt. It will be a cute scrappy quilt. My DIL loves the vegi print. She says it makes it unique and will always make her think of my mom.

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Oh my, I was born in 41 so I am not vintage but maybe real old.

Here's some of the blocks for my grandsons quilt. He will be here in may, so I've got some time yet on this quilt. We've attempted to replicate some of what mom was thinking with the color combinations, since she had them in sets of 8.

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Oh, that first one is reminiscent of the whole, "back-to-the-land/homestead" movement in the late 60s and early 70s. Everything was calico prints and gardening themes. (Remember granny dresses? Katherine Ross' dresses in Butch Cassidy?) I'm sure that you can find fabrics to match up with that. The second one looks a little more quaint...perhaps a nod to the 30s. There's lots of mens' shirt prints in that...again, with little, calico prints. Try looking on Connecting Threads site. They have a lot of this kind of stuff. and, as I mentioned before, Effies, on EBay has a lot of these prints as well.

Thanks for sharing...the quilts are going to be beautiful and straight from the heart.

~ C

Thank you so much!!! I'm so very green at this, that having someone familiar with the fabrics of that era is, to me, priceless! I do really appreciate your input. I checked Effies yesterday and put that shop in my list and will keep watching. I'll head over to Connecting Threads and see what I can find there. I'm excited to have places to watch! We used to have a company here that did estate sales, and I thought I would maybe luck out and find something at one of their sales, but they haven't had any sales this winter.

We felt that it was a great way to honor her, and maybe put a smile on her face. <3

Yep, to me fabric from the 60's to 80's would not be vintage. I guess I'm dating myself.

[QUOTE=sewingsuz;7450770]Oh my, I was born in 41 so I am not vintage but maybe real old.

Thanks Sewingsuz, I was wondering where "not vintage" put me as I am a war baby. My doctors are much younger, I have gotten them to say "mature" not elderly. Even that does not (mature) thrill me. Some days when I look into that darn "looking glass" I wonder how I got this age.

Guess I'm vintage! Love to see them!.!

Boy, do I relate to other comments about vintage! I loved those little calicoes of the past and wish I could find them again to finish some projects handed down to me. They were so sweet and very appropriate for baby quilts. Yes, the white backing was characteristic of the quilts of that era. What about a white on white if the moms don't want just a plain white--or even an off-white on off-white? Or, keep the backing that your mother had purchased and let your quilting be the design of the backing. I love the whole cloth look and it would be consistent with what your mother began. I assume these quilts are to be keepsakes not drag-around so white will not be a problem. Perhaps these quilts will become wall hangings so they will be preserved somewhat and the back won't matter anyhow. Putting colors or prints on the backs of quilts is "new".

PS--To be consistent with the time period, I hope these will be hand quilted to make these truly keepsakes!

I guess I am in the antique era too. 60's-80's seems like yesterday. Two of my children were born in the 60's.😏

I think it is fairly easy to get fabric of other eras for use in vintage quilts through the internet. I know there is a shop that deals in vintage fabric in Leadville, Colorado. There must be others in lots of places. I would also think that you could find what you need with reproduction fabric. Part of situation involves how the quilts will be used. Will they be used hard and washed alot or will they be hardly used because they are regarded as keepsakes that span the generations. Either situation is worthy of all the work you put into them. They will be loved.

Finish the tops, to the size you want, then take them to a fabric shop, even Jo-Ann's or Wal-Mart (if that's all you have in the area) and audition all the different fabrics to see which one you like. That's what I do with most of my quilts. Occasionally I know from the start but that's usually few and far between.

The Little House on the Prairie line, that came out recently, has some calico-like prints. I found a calico print for my Raggedy Ann at Hobby Lobby.

Very depressing indead. Do not feel that old, but graduated High School in 1964.

Maybe Kansas troubles would be something to look at? Maybe not quite the era look you are going for or too prairie looking? I happen to love the line.
Congrats on the babies!
On the 80's vintage thing-Yikes! Lol! Ten years ago the 70's Flower child was a popular costume for Halloween, kind of funny to see me as a costume!

'60's-80's fabrics
 

Yes I was too. Hardly seems that long ago- time marches on ( sigh)

Flinda Terteling in Boise Idaho has a lot of vintage cottons for sale on her website, antiquefabrics.com

Oh, the Kansas Troubles line is very pretty! I can see why you like it.

Seems I may have created a stir here with my use of the word vintage. If I've offended anyone, please accept my apology. I did not mean to. ;)

Yes, muslin was used on the backs of most quilts in years gone by. Remember the quilt tops were usually made from scraps, old clothes, limited new purchases...a practical way use everything....waste not, want not. It's only recently that prints were promoted to be put on the backs....great move by the textile mfgrs.

i put muslin on the backs of quilts, wallhangings.....a good quality muslin, when washed, is soft as butter.....(for bed quilts). On wallhangings I use a cheaper grade..why not?
.....and I read somewhere that calicoes are coming back in the spring...maybe a bit more updated, but nonetheless calico.

those bow ties look a lot like a mosaic design when put together as they are. And that center square is usually the same color as the edge squares....your mom had a great design eye when she planned these blocks...

Many, if not most quilts made in the 30's, etc., were made with white fillers or backgrounds. I would not change anything about them. Just quilt away and have fun.

Gee I was born in the 40's; what does that make me? Older than an antique? lol
In response MacyBaby; my grandmother started quilting in her 60's I guess which was in the 60's; she too only seemed to use white backings; muslins; think it was just the thing to do at that time.

No offense hooked-on-quilts. Used to be the "good ole days" was in our grandparents era. Now things come and go SO fast, that things 20 years ago were the 'good ole days" (or vintage). I think things were better in the "good ole days" frankly. Maybe it's just me.

I learned to quilt evidently in the dark ages. We always used white or natural muslin for backing, never even considering a print. Hope you find what you're looking for!

The two quilts my family had sandwiched and quilted in the 60s were backed with muslin like the background of the DWR and state flowers of the (then) vintage tops. My wedding quilt (early 70s) was backed with the same pink fabric as the background hexes of the GFG top.
So for your quilts just go with what pleases you as they don't have a specific background fabric.

Thought I would update this thread with the two that I've finished. I ended up finding a brown floral for Zoe's quilt and used a navy Kansas Troubles for Onyx's quilt. They both turned out really cute.

We did present miss Zoe to mom wrapped in the quilt like we had planned, which made us all tear up. Lol

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http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...psbtl1faxc.jpg

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...psnnvodemt.jpg

[QUOTE=mrs. fitz;7449971]No Suggestions, but oh my it's depressing to hear "vintage" and "60s

I totally agree. The first time I heard my favorite song from high school in an elevator I about had a stroke!

As for the poster: I would consider tea dying it :)